Submerged hollow-fascine dike.



No. 687,382. Patented Nov. 26, IQOI. n. NEALE.

SUBMERGED HOLLOW F-ASCINE DIKE.

(Application filed July 13, 1901.)

(No Model.)

m: NORRIS PETERS cav PHoTaL rka, WASHINGTON. u. c

UNrrEn STATES PATENT Prion.

DAVID NEALE, OF FORT CALHOUN, NEBRASKA.

SUBMERGED HOLLOW-FASCINE DIKE.

srncrrrcncrron forming part of Letters resent No. 687,382,.dated November 26, 1901.

Application filed July 13, 1901.

To all whom, it mcty'concern:

Be it known that I, DAVID NEALE, residing at Fort Calhoun, in the county of W'ashington and State of Nebraska, have invented certain useful Improvements in Submerged Hollow-Fascine Dikes; and I do hereby declare thatthe following is a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enableothers skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which form a part of this specification.

This invention relates toa submerged hollow-fascine dike.

The object of my invention is to provide a submerged dike made of brush in the form of a yielding elastic hollow mass, which may be built out into the current at any suitable angle and to any suitable depth to deflect the current of the river.

The object ismore particularly to collect the main body of the river against my dike, so as to turn it any point, if direction is desired, in order to protect inroads upon the river-banks. This is accomplished in cansing a deep channel to be formed adjacent the dike, so that the shallower portion of the river has not force enough to materially change the course of the river from the new direction given it by the submerged dike. In accomplishing this I place my fascines at such an angle downstream as to cause the main current to strike thedike with a downward cut. This undermines and washes from under the dike the sand and loose material to gradually permit the dike to sink. As the fascines composing the dike are of hollow permeable structures, the sand, mud, and silt sift through and weight and load these per meable fascines, so that they become a solid mass. Asthe structure sinks newmembers are added to it, so that occasionally the dike is let down two or three times the normal depth of the river. This cutting or lowering of the river-bed at the desired point and placing there the submerged dike is the cause of turning the main body of the river at any angle, so as to throw the force of the wash away from a threatened river-bank portion.

In the accompanyingdrawingsIhave shown in Figure 1 a top View of a submerged hollow- Serial No. 68,148- (No model.)

fascine dike, while Fig. 2 shows an end view of a portion thereof with parts removed.

In protecting a threatened bank portion I begin by providing the bank with a series of posts A, referring now to Fig. 1. These posts A, for the sake of convenience, are usually provided with the cross-bars 2 and 3. This is especially true in regard to the posts, which act as anchors or stays for the first anchorstrands. I next, preferably immediately at the edge of the river, provide a border of logs B, which border-logs are secured to the posts A by'the anchor-strands E and the stayanchor-strands 4, as is shown in the drawings,

Where logs or wood is not accessible, these border-logs may be replaced by a hollow fascine. Extending from the border-logs is a mat D, of hollow permeable construction, made up of a plurality of faseines. These fascincs are of any suitable size or length to suit the work. These fascines forming the mat are built out into the stream from fifty to three hundred feet, according to the rush of the waters and the condition of the river-bed. At the end of the mat D, I usually provide a plurality of base-fascines O, which are sccured, by means of the anchor-strands E and 4, to the shore.

In referring to Fig. 2, I have shown the position of the mat, the border-logs, and a plurality of base-fascines. These base-fascines G are then suitably secured by means of wire, ropes, cables, or link-logs, as may be desired.

It will be noticed that the mat and the basefascines have been positioned approximately in alinement with the shores of the bank. It is also found advisable to make the mat and base-fascine members of successively shorter lengths, so as to present an angular face or wall to the flow of the river.

After positioning the base-fascines I begin throwing out the lateral fascines K. I begin first by putting in a layer of fascines of successively longer lengths, so as to form a rightangle triangular mat, as it were, composed of a plurality of hollow fascines. These fascin es are sunk by means of stones, and gradually, as they become water-washed, the sand, mud, and silt work through these permeable fascine members, which are connected by any suitable n1eansas by the strands 10, for instance. A successive series of fascines is then placed upon the first in'such a manner that they form a succession of steps, as is shown in Fig. 1. After the second layer has disappeared the third layer is placed upon the second, and so on, each layer being shorter than the first, so that as the water encounters the submerged dike it washes over the fascines and gradually drops from one tier of fascines to the other. This dropping of the water and washing of the flow of the river over these successive steps cause little eddies to form above each fascine, which soon become mud and sand clogged and so become weighted and form a solid compact mass,

which, however, is pliable enough to adapt itself to the irregularities of the river-bottom. In this way the heaviest floods are found unable to move these submerged dikes from their foundations, as the river forms a trench below the surface of the surrounding riverbed, into which my submerged hollowfascine dike sinks and so remains an immovable structure within the river-bed, which structure is so shaped and positioned as to change the current and course of the river.

In referring to Fig. 1 it will be noticed that the dike also presents a stepped face to the current of the river, as the current in striking the bottommost fascine is deflected upward to pass over the first longest fascine, then has to extend upward and pass over the second fascine, and so on, so that the dike comprises a plurality of superposed fascines combined to form mat-s, which are secured one above the otherin astaggered or stepped position, so thatthewaterin encountering the fascinc is deflected upward step by step until the hollow fascine is reached, and then drops downward after passing over the same again stepby step. Thewater as it passes around the first base-fascine naturally forms an eddy. This eddy is counteracted and destroyed by the current that passes over the first step. The water that encounters the side of the second fascine also creates an eddy, which, however, is destroyed and counteracted by the water which rushes over the top of the second fascine, and so on. From this it will be seen that the eddy caused by the water passing around the successively-higher ends of the fascines is counteracted by the water washing over the tops'of the staggered-faced dike.

In practice it is found that the water as soon as it encounters my projecting fascines begins and undermines the same, washing away the foundation. The fascine being pliable, however, keeps sinking and following the receding foundation. This causes the channel to grow deeper and deeper adjacent the fascine, and finally the structure sinks no farther, the water-current being unable to further undermine or move the earth. At the same time that this deep channel has been created the water has been deflected or given a desired direction, this deflection being determined by the angle of the face of the fascine. It is further found that after the current has been deflected it invariably throws a sand-bank below the dike, usually from five hundred feet to one-half mile,depending upon the conditions of the water as to mud and the position of the river-bed.

The projection of my submerged hollowfascine dike causes a gentle eddy to form, which finally creates a sand-bar, the eddies becoming less and less pronounced as the sand-bar is created and rises in height.

The dike is mat-ted to above the danger-line and securely anchored, so that in case of a heavy rise before the dike has been properly and'fully formed the river will not wash in from the shore side. This arrangement also guards against the river cutting the banks above or below the dike and insures the formation of a sand-bar between the main channel and the bank.

I do not wish to confine myself to a fascine of any special shape or structure; and

Having thus described my said invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by United States Letters Patent, is

The method of constructing a dike which consists in throwing out from the river-bank a plurality of successively-longer fascines, then anchoring said fascines and placing upon these fascines, a second set or course of successively-longer fascines, said second set however,being successively shorter than said first set, so as to form a submerged dike comprising a plurality of superposed fascines, each set of fascines being shorter than the previous one, so as to form a plurality of steps orstaggered fascines,as and for the purpose set forth.

DAVID NEALE.

In presence of- GEORGE W. Suns, RAYMOND J ,DAvENPoRT. 

